


You're Still Here

by HouseAu3



Category: Skyfall (2012) - Fandom
Genre: Aftermath, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-05-06
Packaged: 2018-01-23 19:22:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1576694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HouseAu3/pseuds/HouseAu3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the movie. How everyone deal with the death and Bond. Q was, as usual, unusual.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're Still Here

**Author's Note:**

> Still not a native speaker, so there might be errors and stuff. I've tried my best to revise. Hope you'll at least be able to find something to like.

The funeral was eerily silent.

It was... expected, considered the participants. No on cried, not even a little choked up. The sky was as grey as usual, but it didn't rain.

He has been following her for so many years. He wondered if she would get mad if he cried.

Come to think of it, the last time he saw her, there was only the fleeting tail light of the speeding car. That man always was unexpected.

He didn't come.

*

When they first arrived, he was holding M, back against the broken bench, battered face lighted up by fire, iced-blue eyes reflecting red. It was the first time he saw such raw tiredness on him.

Tanner stared at the peaceful expression on M's face, suddenly breathless. He knelt down and took M's lifeless hand. He never forgot her age, but it wasn't until this moment that he was reminded of it.

Mallory calmly order people around to collect Silva's body and cleaned up the mess. He approached them, squatted down to look at M, and blankly stared at her for a while.

"It's time, double-o-seven," he gently said.

Bond didn't look at him. He just twitched one side of his lips, and smiled the most empty smile Tanner has ever seen in his life.

"I expected to hear this from someone else."

Bond lifted up M's body and carried her out without turning back. Tanner followed. He noticed the tombstones when he walked down the stairs.

Ah.

*

Mallory finished the eulogy, looking at the wooden coffin, covered by a blanket of white roses. She would be mad if she saw this. Mourning her with roses, how inappropriately vulnerable. But how else would it be? In death even she could only be treated as ordinary. Maybe they should have bought all those horrendous ceramic dogs they could find in the whole England and piled them up on her coffin. That might make her happier.

The attack from both the parliament and the media had settled down, but only temporarily, to show respect for the deceased. It wouldn't be long until he got his hand full again. When the truth saw the light, the man that wasn't here would be under the spotlight.

Maybe that was the only thing he could do for her: to protect that man.

*

Silva's escape made MI6 even less favorited by the higher up. The minister had been yelling at him for thirty minutes before she finally asked the most important question: So did you catch that guy?

How did Silva miss this one when he broke in shooting everything in sight? Mallory let out a deep breath, trying to suppress his urge to strangle her.

"He's dead, Ma'am. If he somehow managed to attack London yet again, we should all run away screaming."

She continued her interrogation relentlessly. Motive? He was a lunatic we couldn't possibly hope to understand. How did he escape? Hacked. How did we trust you if your system was so easily hacked? It wasn't easy, and we didn't ask for your trust. Mutual disgust and respect was good enough.

His phone rang. Thank the nonexistent god. He picked up. It was Q.

"Mallory."

"Good timing?"

"Perfect."

A low chuckle.

"So, there's nothing of any value in Silva's laptop except for the virus. The video and the account on Youtube have been deleted. And the team that stayed on his island will destroy all his hard disks and servers once they scavenge everything that might come in handy."

"You are not going?"

"Respectfully decline, sir."

Why did they always attract difficult employees?

"One more thing, sir. Double-o-seven has brought back two more Silva's people."

"I'm on my way."

He hung up, said, "Emergency," and left without further explanation.

Bond hadn't stopped searching for Silva's people since he got back. He worked like an addict.

That day, a lot of people have lost someone. What he also lost was his loyalty.

*

He looked at the silhouette standing at the edge of the rooftop, wind swirling the coat violently, as if about to push him off. But oddly, he wasn't worried at all.

"Double-o-seven."

"Q."

He walked forward and stood beside him, looking at the ever-present flag of The United Kingdom.

"How's your left hand?"

Bond glanced at him, "Better than yours."

"Shooting test?"

Bond smirked, "What are you implying, Q?"

He arched his eyebrow, "Really? People fell for that?"

"Depends on who's talking."

"Unbelievable."

They both fell silent for a while, and then Bond asked, "Why are you here?"

"Mallory wants me to keep an eye on you."

"To stop me from doing something stupid?" Bond snorted, stepped onto the edge, and turned to look at him. "You can't stop me if I want to."

Q looked at him, shook his head, and reached out to hold onto his coat.

"Maybe we should do something stupid."

Bond arched his eyebrow. Q just smiled.

*

When he just got back, most people treated him like a time-bomb. Eve was always looking at him, but she seemed to be struggling with something. Aside from the polite greetings, she didn't say much to him. Tanner looked angry, but avoided him because he knew his anger shouldn't be directed at him. As for Mallory, he was still Mallory, matter-of-fact and professional.

Q had been thinking about what he should say first. Maybe the weather, or football, anything not related to Silva. But when he did stop Bond and saw his lifeless eyes, suddenly he couldn't remember what he wanted to say.

"You lost my gun."

And that was what he said. Just brilliant. After all these things, who would remember that bloody gun.

But after moments of silence, Bond actually laughed.

"Oh, right, it saved my life, but it's probably still in the cave of some giant lizard."

"I told you to return the gadgets in one piece."

"Of course, sorry. I'll try to remember next time."

"Then please at least try to keep your hands intact," he said in the most sarcastic tone he could manage, but it sounded oddly sincere. "It'll at least give me some comfort knowing that no one would be able to use that gun"

Bond twitched his lips, "That possessive?"

"I'm prone to jealousy," he retorted.

Every time they found any clue in Silva's computer, Bond was always the first one to act. When the team on the island had decoded everything they were capable of decoding, Mallory politely asked Q to please get on the helicopter and go to the island himself. He resisted like his life depended on it. He didn't notice Bond's weird smile.

The next day he woke up, he was already on the helicopter, above the endless ocean. He panicked and held onto the chair. Bond let out a rare laugh. Q didn't even have the strength to stare at him.

"Don't worry. I'm here."

"Why thank you I'm so very relieved by your presence."

Bond looked out of the window, the blue ocean reflected in his blue eyes.

"I swore I would never let my people die in front of me."

Q looked at him, let out a soft sigh, and grabbed Bond's left arm.

"...What?"

"I can't swim. If I fall I'll have to drag you down with me to rescue me."

"Very mature, Q. Very mature."

*

Mallory stared out of the car, speechless. Every TV channel every and electronic billboard were all occupied by the image of that bloody dog chasing after that bloody minister. Next to him Tanner took out his laptop. Even Google and all the major social networking site were hacked.

"You gave me a new life. You deserved better." The black text appeared on every website.

Mallory called Q and sighed heavily, "I asked you to keep an eye on him."

"Well," Bond picked up the phone, "You forgot my charm."

"Two hours. Two hours and then I want to see everything back to normal."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Mallory stared at his phone.

"Ah, sorry, old habits die hard."

He started to question his decision to take this job.

"Do you want to die in front of the desk with that dog, double-o-seven?"

"That dog, M, is immortal."


End file.
